Patrice Gros

As I read the CAPC resolutions for 2008 in its support of various local efforts, I had two thoughts (therefore I am).

  One is how prolific and energetic our small community is. New projects are born it seems everyday. Some go on and gather speed and others fade away. But as a whole, we thrive on a fare of localism: a full buffet of art, recreation and, of course, food and wine.

  Take movies for instance: as I write this, there are three independent movie series running in town; the Carnegie Library foreign series; Planet Home series on green issues; and Enthios' "Awakening Cinema." Those events are often put out by volunteers to offer educational, thought-provoking and entertaining material. Profit can, but does not have to, be a factor. Getting together and knowing your neighbors better is always a benefit.

On second thought

  My second thought was that in this explosion of creative endeavors, a kernel of our city's future is to be found. Not in a motto created by some ad agency in Little Rock, not even in the minds of our well-intentioned town leaders, but in the brain creations of our citizens. It is these natural and original occurrences which shape our town and in the end it is what people get drawn to, those who relocate here, and, yes, tourists.

  If I were a CAPC member, I would be restless about funding new and old local projects. I would fund every well-documented request and look for more. I would offer a matching grant up to $5,000 for the best landscaping or street-scaping proposal. Another $3,000 match-grant could go to an original play. How about $5,000 towards a pavilion for our farmers' market (please forgive the plug)?

  Tourism is the wrong target. What money needs to serve is our ability to create and evolve. As city funds join with resources from banks, other businesses and individuals, a weaving of financial threads can pull all of us into a natural place of happiness

Local empowerment

  As a side note, people in the developing world have reached a similar realization and have challenged all established economic standards by ushering in the era of "micro-loans." For those entrepreneurs too, empowerment at the local level is the name of the game.

  Standing in the way of this evolutionary path are corporate entities which, from their powerful place at the top of our economy, try to organize our lives and ordain our choices. It is a fight, fought inside each home, between the forces of corporate imperialism and the forces of local expressionism.

Britney or Mountain Sprout?

  It is as basic as whether you decide to stay home to watch another episode of "Lost," or to go out and see Mountain Sprout at the New Delhi.

  Are you fascinated by the latest chapter of Britney Spears' life, or are you getting involved with your "fill-in-the-blank" town chapter? Many of those battles have been lost.

  Here is a sad fact which measures our descent into globalized art form: in 1900, in the state of Iowa alone, there were 1,300 local opera houses where countless tenors and baritones would delight the local crowds. 1,300?

  Let's count our blessings and earmark another $5,000 for our very own "Opera of the Ozarks," which has survived the onslaught.